Possessions
by djmichealsfics
Summary: Do our possessions really define us? If so, what would two things say. AU, JIBBS in the future.


Title: The Jacket & The Dress

Rating: T

Pairing: LJ Gibbs, Jenny Shepard

Category: Comparative

Genre: Gen, AU

Summary: Differences

Disclaimer: These characters belong to DPB, CBS, Paramount, et al. No copyright infringement is intended. If I owned them, Jenny and Jethro would be making like bunnies.

The first object that you see when you walk into the room is jacket. It is a dirty, dark, brown leather jacket. It is very heavy. It is worn with years of use. The jacket is warm with a sheepskin lining and is very soft. There are water stains on it from being out in the rain. It is worn thin in the elbows and around the collar. Loose threads hang from the waist and cuffs. For as old as it is, the jacket has been very well taken care of.

When you see the jacket, you get a picture of the owner. Old, dirty, and unkempt is the image that pops to mind. That picture isn't reality though. The owner of this jacket is different. He is a youngish man about sixty years old. He has silver-grey hair. It is cut short on the top and sides and is longer in the back, down to his shirt collar. He has piercing blue eyes that are aware constantly. He about six feet toll and weighs around 185 pounds.

He is a hard working man, he works for a living. He is very tough on the outside, like a man is supposed to be. He works long hours, a marine in his earlier life, then a Naval cop. He has a scar by his right eye where he was cut by a knife, scars from explosions, and scars from bullets. His nose has been broken a couple of times. It doesn't give him the look of a boxer or of a fighter or anything like that. It is only slightly uneven. It gives him more character and enhances his looks. His face has lines down the plane of it, they aren't wrinkles, they are character lines gotten from the wind, rain, and from being outside. He is a strong, independent, tough man. He is obstinate and very set in his ways.

The second object in the room that you see is a dress. It is a wedding dress. It is very old and fine. It is made of ivory satin and lace. It has beaded pearls on the bodice with a long veil and train. The waist is tapered. The neckline is heart-shaped and the sleeves are capped. It is soft and it rustles when she moves. The dress was given to her by her mother, and her mother by her mother, and her mother by her mother. Her daughters wore it on their wedding day. It has a wide skirt that is supported by a hoop. She wore this dress on her wedding day over thirty years ago. The dress is like her in many ways, or more that she is like it. She too is about sixty years old, very beautiful, graceful, and very classical. She has a sense of style that is timeless. She is also very delicate, like the lace. She was brought up to be a lady. The perfect wife and mother, she is all of the things that she should be. She is more than that now. Her family is all grown up and gone. They have families of their own now.

When she was growing up, her dream, her mother's dream, was for her to get married to a handsome well-off man and have a family. That was what she was brought up for and groomed for. That dream had come true and was over now but didn't happen right away. She had a career first before settling down. She did not follow her mother's path but forged her own.

She loved it. It gave her the sense of fulfillment that she was missing. After thirty years of raising her children, managing the agency she loved, and helping her children with their children, her life was busy and at some times very hectic.

These two people are very different. They have been married for over thirty years. They are very opposite. Yet it is the oppositeness that brought them together in the first place. She is the classic model of the wife, friend, mother, lover all rolled into one. He is the typical macho man. Rough, tough, hard-working, condescending at times, and stubborn; he never gives up or gives in. She is beautiful and expensive. He is rugged and low key.

He wears a crappy, old jacket to go out in and she wears beautiful, fine clothes. These people are, amazingly enough, married. They have raised six children together, three girls and three boys. All went to college and are successful at what they do. They work well together and run NCIS side by side, although she has the title of Director and he Senior Special Agent. She is his boss at work and at home. He married her because he thought she would be the right person to stand beside him for the rest of his life. He was right.

She doesn't give in to him when they fight. She stands up for herself and she can be just as stubborn as he is. He is proud of that fact. He likes the way she argues and the way she acts.

When people see them on the street, the just don't seem to fit together. He's tall, dark, and rugged. She's petite, fair, and graceful. He is surly and short with people. She is carefully polite and friendly. The do fit perfectly.

She brings out the best side of him, the softer, gentle side that shows only when they are with each other, family, or close friends. He brings out the reckless, not-so-perfect side of her. He lets her "let her hair down" and he loves that side of her.

They are like their possessions, and yet so different. With the jacket you only see the dark, dirty part. You don't see the soft, warmth. With the gown you only see the perfect beauty. You don't see the seams that are worn on the inside or loose strings. With these two people you see both sides.


End file.
